Just yanking some chains here and having fun. I guess I just do not like change. Keep in mind that I still have a hard time buying metric wrenches. LOL
Nitrogen Tire Fill
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Yea things have been kinda slow on our forum. We need to come up with a new vibration.:bonkers:
I had Nitrogen in my 2005 CTS for 3 yrs. A business assoc has a small tire shop and he was sold a bill of goods on a Nitrogen air compressor and he offered to fill mine for free if I would let him know the results. After 6 months (1 summer) my mpg never changed at all. There was no advantage from what I could see and it told him so many times in the 2.5 yrs I had it in the tires. He told me though he had customers tell him their mph jumped as much as 5 mpg and also that many customers had all kinds of positive feedback. My only answer to his claims was that there are a lot of suckers out there if they are paying you $20 to put air in their tires.
The only advantage to nitrogen in your tires is for the shop that sold you on that.
The only advantage to nitrogen in your tires is for the shop that sold you on that.
There are definite advantages to the use of nitrogen and that's why its used in aircraft tires. The alleged cost charged by Dealers however is a joke.
As an air force pilot and chemical engineer, I can say your fuel mileage and tire wear only changes because your air pressure drops, so if you maintain your tires (check them once a month) you will not get much of a difference. Nitrogen is a slightly larger molecule that oxygen, so it doesn't diffuse as quickly through the rubber (but this is hardly a factor). For abmient air, water vapor is very near is condensation point, so it can change state more readily than nitrogen or oxygen (ie, liquify and decrease pressure), but a properly maintained air compressor should not have much moisture in it at all. The pressurization squeezes out most water, and it should have a dessicant filter if it is shop air. For aviation, I am talking to 2 maintainers here and they say the main reason they use it is that it is inert so it doesn't cause corrosion. It also helps for hot brakes, if the thermal plug metals, the tire's air won't feed the fire. The other key with aviation is the rapid temperature changes. Standard lapse rate is 2C for every 1000', as you climb to 40,000' and descend back down, water can freeze and thaw causing corrosion, damage, and pressure changes.
If you are worried about your tires heating up and water expanding as you drive, it will not increase enough to burst your tires, and your fuel mileage will only go up. Otherwise, check your tire pressures once a month (or everyday using the car's sensors) and fill up when needed and there will be no difference in mileage or tire wear.
If you are worried about your tires heating up and water expanding as you drive, it will not increase enough to burst your tires, and your fuel mileage will only go up. Otherwise, check your tire pressures once a month (or everyday using the car's sensors) and fill up when needed and there will be no difference in mileage or tire wear.
I guess you mean "This is why aircraft use nitrogen in their tires". 'There' and 'their' sound the same but have different meanings.
And while we are correcting your mistatements, please stop spreading misinformation. The reason why aircraft use nitrogen in their tires is because said nitrogen is DRY. At the very low temperatures aircraft see at high altitudes, if there were any water vapor in the tire, it would condense and freeze (not a desirable condition when you land the plane).
Frank Gonzalez
Exactly when your car spends hours at sub zero temp, and then hits the ground at 180 mph and applys the brakes creating temps of 500 plus degrees like a commercial jetliner, then you will benefit of nitrogen in your tires.
Can't tell if you are trying to be funny....but this describes my driving perfectly.
Nitrogen is used in racing because the lack of temperature rise makes the handling more consistent, and it makes setup easier as well. This also provides better longevity of the tire during extreme conditions. It has obvious benefits for track work, but also for hard street driving, such as in the mountains, if you like to take the car to it's limits, like I do. Not likely to be as much of an advantage on the highway, unless the ambient (and surface) temperatures get very high.
Charles' Law: The volume of a gas varies directly with temperature. Increase the temperature, the gas mixture expands, and the volume increases proportionately.
It's my understanding that Charles' Law applies to all gases, including nitrogen and oxygen. It would be interesting to see scientific data comparing the psi effects of temperature change under typical real-world driving conditions on air-filled tires (typically about 79% nitrogen, 20% oxygen and others, including about 1% water vapor in "dry" ambient air)
vs. so-called nitrogen-filled tires (typically about 95% nitrogen and 5% air, in purged and refilled tires).
Consumer Reports "did look at the inflation pressure over various ambient temperatures but could not find a significant difference between air and nitrogen" - the CR controlled one-year test was static, not conducted under driving conditions with road friction/heat.
It's my understanding that Charles' Law applies to all gases, including nitrogen and oxygen. It would be interesting to see scientific data comparing the psi effects of temperature change under typical real-world driving conditions on air-filled tires (typically about 79% nitrogen, 20% oxygen and others, including about 1% water vapor in "dry" ambient air)
vs. so-called nitrogen-filled tires (typically about 95% nitrogen and 5% air, in purged and refilled tires).
Consumer Reports "did look at the inflation pressure over various ambient temperatures but could not find a significant difference between air and nitrogen" - the CR controlled one-year test was static, not conducted under driving conditions with road friction/heat.
I would use Nitrogen(theres ample evidence as to its merits) but given I have the tire inflator kit(no spare) that uses regular air and until there is a supporting nationwide infrastructure for availability - doesnt make much sense. But if you buy tires from places like Costco and its near your home, they install nitrogen in new tires for free and refill for free.
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